This past week, I was pleased to get several emails from Hot Topic about bands …. from Finland! Given that just about anyone who loves rock music has at some point stepped foot in a Hot Topic, it’s a good milestone to mark any band’s attempt to get a foothold in the US.

HIM has conquered the Hot Topic frontier thoroughly. You can walk in at any point and find the Heartagram all over the store.

I’ve noticed Children of Bodom merch in there before but usually just a t-shirt or two. So getting an email about the upcoming release of their new album is noteworthy because it signals another step into mainstream promotion via Hot Topic.

If you’re a Children of Bodom fan and have not yet ordered their new album: Blooddrunk, I highly recommend ordering it through Hot Topic. $9.99 is a great price and you’ll be voting with your consumer dollar to show Hot Topic that CoB does have a US fanbase and that it’s worthwhile to carry more merchandise.

And today’s email brought an announcement of an online Apocalyptica concert via Hot Topic! If you haven’t been paying attention, Apocalyptica is touching down this week for their first US tour starting on Friday. But according to the email, they’re starting a day early with a streaming concert exclusive to Hot Topic’s website.

Exciting isn’t it? I know they played a gig at the Roxy several years ago but that was before I learned about the wonders of rock music from the far north. I am really looking forward to seeing them at the Roxy this time around because it’s an intimate club where you can get a front row view of the band from anywhere inside the club.

Even when I went to the SOLD OUT Tokio Hotel concert back in February, we had no trouble finding a great spot even though we were one of the last ones in the club.

BTW LA denizens, keep your peepers open since the guys will probably be hanging out on Sunset Strip this week. Hot Topic’s headquarters are in the LA metropolitan area so it’s a good guess that they’ll be coming to LA first to do the concert before popping over to Vegas for the first gig of the tour. I know they like the strip because we ran into them several times last year. They were there filming the music video for I’m Not Jesus with Corey Taylor. Just look for a 6 ft Finn with long blonde hair gliding through the throngs.

I want to wrap up this post by applauding the Apocalyptica PR team for the excellent promotional photos they’ve picked. Paavo usually isn’t the focus of the artwork but it really works to have him front and center and the long haired ones flanking him and the mischievous Mikko peeking out of the background like Puck.

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